Sam Harris

People who would rather be a character in God’s video game than face life as a real person.

I’d argue that people would rather play a character in a man-made video game rather than face life as God made it. The difference is God created man for a purpose rather than entertainment.

Bad_Conduct wrote:

The difference is God created man for a purpose rather than entertainment.

And if I beleived that for even one second, I’d blow my brains out.

What is it with Christians that they HATE life so much? Anything, even being an animated puppet of a sadistic monster is better than simply being human.

In all seriousness, what is this psychotic obsession with being inferior to something, anything, as long as we are worthless in and of ourselves?

[quote author=“JGrice02”]The only difference is that atheistic fanatics will be doing things in the name of “Reason” instead of the name of “God”.

Imagine, people actually have logically, rational reasons for doing the things they do. The horror.

As Sam Harris would say, It’s reason run amok!

I doubt you could say the same thing about theists, which is why extremist positions, such as the one you take, are dangerous.

You typically won’t come across an atheist who will try to get you to accept reason by violently threatening you or using anything other than reason to convince you. To do otherwise would be insanely hypocritical.

Perhaps that is what you want, for people to fear you.

I want people to fear stupidity and irrationality. I want them to think, Ahh! Bad things can happen to me when I elicit those characteristics. Maybe I should think before I jump.

However, I don’t think a government mandate is in order, nor do I think that we need anything other than a democracy which gives no religion any preference and allows everyone to worship as they choose. I’m going to try to make you feel stupid and embarrassed, yes. But it’s for your own good. You know that I have no real control over you. Everything I say that embarrasses does so because you have a reason to be embarrassed. Of course I’m not saying you are embarrassed, I’m simply saying if you were, that would be why, and that’s why I want to do it. We can still be friends. I’m not malevolent or anything.

Maybe it is what Harris wants as well, though I don’t get that from him so much.  But if you ask me, such a position will only drive people away from atheism and promote more evil in the world.

Drive people away from atheism and promote more evil in the world? Do you really mean that or am I committing a post hoc, ergo propter hoc fallacy by assuming that you mean atheism is not the promotion of evil?

Thank God there are still people like William L. Rowe, a friendly atheist, who can respect and work with theists.  But my guess is Rowe is a rare breed who can actually agree that Christianity is rational.

I rather he think that it’s irrational to argue with a Christian, therefore he lets them be.

Sure there is.  Your ability to reason, however flawed it might be, is a fact that points to God’s existence.

How is it a fact that points to God’s existence?

BC said
It’s not the choice of religion that people follow, it’s the government.

There were 19 people who flew airplanes into buildings on 9/11 that would demonstrate otherwise.  Also, that is not what you have said in the past regarding communism.

Jgrice said that atheists “scare the crap out of him.”  Well, this is why theists scare the crap out of me.  This boy was being prosylitized to in his classroom.  He had to tape the teacher so that the principal would take him seriously.  After it became public and the teacher was made to quit, Matthew received a death threat from an angry christian.  Who is scary, atheists or theists?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/18/nyregion/18kearny.html?ex=1324098000&en=07af8b7caf3a13cc&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

[quote author=“Bad_Conduct”]

There are many jews that would disagree with you.

I own the book. What do they have to say about that?

Their book was published first which makes your book a sequel.

And if I beleived that for even one second, I’d blow my brains out.

Maybe that’s what God wants you to do.

What is it with Christians that they HATE life so much? Anything, even being an animated puppet of a sadistic monster is better than simply being human.

When did I say I hate life? I believe I said I’m not an object of God’s entertainment, I’m a creation of importance. I enjoy my life, hence why I believe in God.

I am the fist of Karma.

In all seriousness, what is this psychotic obsession with being inferior to something, anything, as long as we are worthless in and of ourselves?

How can you truly feel important when you look into the stars at night? I am only as important as I make myself. I may not even live to see 100, but I will do what I can to change the world. It’s the way God wanted it.

There were 19 people who flew airplanes into buildings on 9/11 that would demonstrate otherwise. Also, that is not what you have said in the past regarding communism.

How so? They flew those planes for a leader, not for a religion. They used religion to justify their sacrafice and their leader happeneds to be religious. It was a human choice, but an act of God.

Their book was published first which makes your book a sequel.

It’s one book, none the less.

They flew those planes for a leader, not for a religion.

BC that’s BS, they flew those planes into the buildings so that they could become martyrs and go to heaven. 

Quote:
Their book was published first which makes your book a sequel.
It’s one book, none the less.

In the words of a Jew, idolator.

[quote author=“Bad_Conduct”]How can you truly feel important when you look into the stars at night? I am only as important as I make myself. I may not even live to see 100, but I will do what I can to change the world. It’s the way God wanted it.

I can feel important because I am a member of the first species in this planet’s 4.5 billion year history that can look at the stars in the night and the sun in the daytime sky and understand that they are the source of not only my life on a day to day basis, but are also the source of the elements that make up the earth and therefore led to those first simple life forms from which I am a descended. I also know that how I choose to live my life is up to me, whether I choose to do good or bad deeds, and I will be judged only by my own conscience and those around me, not some mystical being of whom I have never seen any evidence. I know that when my life is over, my body will be recycled once again into the pool of matter on the planet, to be used by successive generations of any number of forms of life, as was done by those before me. I know that what I was will live on for the life of the universe.

What more could you ask for than that form of immortality?

[quote author=“Bad_Conduct”]How can you truly feel important when you look into the stars at night?

Try watching Cosmos by Carl Sagan or Nova with Neil deGrasse Tyson then tell me how you can not feel important when looking into the stars at night.

dlsmith and camanintx,

I always appreciate comments that show an understanding of how Christianity demans and debases our value. Thanks.

Bad_Conduct wrote:

When did I say I hate life? I believe I said I’m not an object of God’s entertainment, I’m a creation of importance. I enjoy my life, hence why I believe in God.

A ‘creation’ has no importance. It has a use, a function. A car doesn’t care if it is driven, or where. A painting doesn’t care if we look at it or not.

When I see the word ‘created’, I read ‘manufactured’. It makes things clear.

Some of you guys are a real hoot to read.  It only affirms what I was saying about the dogmatic, closed-minded position of some atheists (not all).  The hypocrisy is embarassing.  But I suppose we are all hypocrits on some level.  At least you don’t try to hide it.

JGrice02 wrote:

At least you don’t try to hide it.

One of the benefits of being an Athiest. We can be open and honest.

Christians can never reconcile the fact that what they want is seldom in accord with what God wants. The Hypocrisy is unavoidable.

As for my dogmatic, close minded position….

2+2=4. I don’t see any possibility of changing my dogmatic view on that.

My Atheism is equally true. It would be hypocritical if I was not dogmatic.

Atheism is internally consistent. Christianity can’t put together two statements without contradicting itself.

Atheism is internally consistent. Christianity can’t put together two statements without contradicting itself.

You are admittedly hypocritical, criticising Christians for being dogmatic while formulating a worldview that is dogmatic to the extreme.  Fair enough.  I think we can also add arrogant to your list of virtues.

On a more positive note, we can agree that 2+2=4.  You have a long way to go but that is a start.

formulating a worldview that is dogmatic to the extreme.

Give me an example.